The Devil In Me

They say that the three most stressful things you can do in life are move house, get married and have children. ‘They’ have obviously never been fervent United fans. Thedevilinme himself is moving house shortly and the stresses of that pale in comparison to waiting for this final.

It is important to note that United have not really played 4-4-2 all season, more 4-5-Rooney in fact, so when second guessing the team selection we should probably not have that formation in mind. Despite the return of Gary and Silvestre from injury I still think that we should go with the same back four as we’ve had all season. It is the front six where picking things becomes tricky.

For that part of the equation it becomes necessary to have a look at Chleski’s areas of strength. In my humble opinion, the way to beat Chelsea is to keep Drogba and Ballack quiet, harrass Terry and keep an eye on Joe Cole. So which players are going to do that then?

Jono has made the excellent point about Hargreaves’ familiarity with Ballack, and I agree that they should start opposite each other, we have no other player who understands the German’s bag o tricks better than him. Vidic is probably the only defender in the world tough enough to keep Drogba chained up and, provided he doesn’t get hospitalised by the bloke again, I think he can do it.

Rooney and Ronaldo should be up to the task of giving the Chelsea back four a hard time. That really is where we will either win or lose the match, whether they score is crucial, obviously. Wesley, keep an eye on Cole, you train opposite each other for England, you know what he’s up to.

So what else do we need in the team? Class, quite simply, and cool heads, I think Scholes (the already picked) fits in to that category and the only other dilemma is whether to go for Giggs or Anderson? The answer is (drum roll please…) Anderson, because Giggs and Nani are better impact players from the bench.

And so the team is…

VDS

WES RIO VIDIC EVRA

OWEN SCHOLES

RONALDO ANDERSON CARRICK

ROONEY

Bench: Giggs, Nani, Silvestre, Fletcher, Mark Payne

Anyway I must dash, getting married this afternoon, nearly forgot.

Bobby Robson was once asked what the secret was to good management during his time with Barcelona. He replied simply “Pick the best players and play them in their preferred positions.” It does sound simple doesn’t it? But the reality is that with teams challenging for trophies everywhere and injuries cropping up that we are now in a position of having the best squads winning the major prizes. It is, however, the best team that generally wins football matches and now United fans have only two to concentrate on it is something of a worry that the best team is still not known.

It is fair to assume that Ferguson will pick the team against Wigan that he would like to play against Chelsea in Moscow, both matches are of crucial importance and are spread out in such a way that overtiring the players need not be a matter for too much concern. What is of concern is that Ferguson has gone on record as saying that he would ‘pick Paul Scholes on sentiment’ and backed up the claim since. With Giggs just one, or two, games away from Bobby Charlton’s record does this mean he will be picked using the same criteria? United are without a shadow of a doubt a club that does things the right way, always providing tickets for ex-players and commemorating them appropriately with testimonials but these things happen, crucially, after the players have retired. The man who dropped Jim Leighton for the 1990 FA Cup Final replay was a man interested in winning. The first match in that encounter with Crystal Palace was a six goal belter. The replay was a dour, stodgy match indeed but it did bring home the trophy. There is often talk about playing the Manchester United way and whilst I wholeheartedly endorse this, we need to play the team that is going to win the game.

Wes Brown should start at right back and Evra at left back. Vidic, VDS and Rio pick themselves.The forward six should be Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Hargreaves Anderson. Simple. Yet I have a nagging thought that Fergie might get the jitters and try a new tactical formation that doesn’t work. I see Ronaldo playing as an out an out striker for example.

Thoughts?